Bittrickle
Bittrickle is a spell developed in LY 905, by Mordechai T'Magus. Its name is said to be a play on the word "bittorrent," from Earth's early 21st century, which referred to a data-sharing application on a communications network similar to the Sylph Swarm (except it was technological rather than magical). Regardless of any possible similarity to the sound or meaning of the words "bittrickle" and "bittorrent," "bittrickle" is actually derived from the words "bit" and "trickle," obviously enough. The name refers to the fact that the spell involves breaking down mana into bits which are too small to effectively do anything individually. However, these bits may attach themselves to the mana of any other spells around the world, and use a part of those spells' excess mana to power the bits' own connection to one another. The spells to which the mana bits attach themselves (like parasites) may constantly be moving, and may even vanish after fairly brief periods, after serving their specific purpose. Therefore, the mana bits must constantly jump from spell to spell, while still maintaining contact with one another. In this way, the bits serve as a cohesive network, which may be used to relay other spells cast by any magician with knowledge of the specific composition of the bittrickle spell. (Each casting of the original spell that sets up the network is unique, so multiple bittrickle networks may be established which cannot interfere with one another, nor can any magician tap into a specific network just by understanding the basic nature of bittrickle spells in general.) The only known application of bittrickle thus far is to make t-mail calls untraceable and unhackable. (Though in theory, there may be any number of entirely different applications of the spell.) Two or more people may each be in possession of a permanent t-mail bubble which has been enchanted in such a way as to be allowed access to a specific network. The mana-signal which would normally stream from one t-mail bubble to another along the most direct route, is instead itself broken up into bits, which bounce off every mana bit in the network which has been previously established, before reassembling at their destination. Because the signals move at virtually the speed of light, the process seems (to the powers of humanoid observation) to happen just as quickly with bittrickle as without; however, it technically operates at a trickle, compared to regular streaming t-mail. However, it may take an almost imperceptible amount of additional time (generally under a second, but possibly a bit more) for a signal to travel between bubbles which are part of the network, but which have not previously made contact with each other. Any call after the first one between two specific bubbles will be seemingly instantaneous. Calls using such a network become untraceable because any one bit of mana (out of potentially many thousands of bits) could just as easily be the apparent point of origin of the call as any other. Calls become virtually unhackable, thanks to the fact that if the call is made from a bubble which has security coding (an "anti-hacking spell"), that coding will be reproduced on every mana bit in the network, meaning that any potential hacker would be required to hack every bit in the network, rather than a single stream, as with normal t-mail. Mordechai T'Magus originally developed bittrickle for use by InterGang, though it is rumored that he also later supplied the spell to the Protestant Sorreters who had disappeared in 903, during the Battle of Triscot. There is no evidence to support this rumor, nor any explanation of when or how he might have had contact with the ex-Sorreters. It is known, however, that LandOrder established their own bittrickle network in 912, and it is believed that this came about as a result of the gang's temporary alliance with The Chaos. See also *T-mail Category:Magic